Every year, thousands of gaming fanatics take to their PC or console each night in the hopes of being the next esports sensation. Hours upon hours a day are poured into a game with dreams of being a high-level competitor. Aside from raw practice, there are other aspects to consider in the journey to high-level gameplay that reaches outside of the game itself. Mentality, composure and discipline being just a few of the factors involved. PhD candidate at Northwestern University, Kyle Nolla, has been experimenting and finding out what really goes on in the mind of a top 100 player.
Esports Insider: Tell us about yourself and how you began your study
Kyle Nolla: I’m Kyle Nolla, a 4th year PhD Candidate in psychology at Northwestern University. I’m concurrently pursuing a Masters of Statistics. I did my undergraduate degree at the University of Chicago where I worked in Sian Beilock’s Human Performance Lab studying the effects of performance pressure and gender stereotypes on child and adult cognition. Right now, when people ask, I say that I study expertise and cognition in competitive video game players.
At the end of my first year in graduate school, a study I had run on creativity under performance pressure had flopped: performance pressure is notoriously difficult to create in the lab, and I was running out of ways to try to do so. At a local tournament, I looked around and realised, look at all these people willingly putting themselves under pressure, building skill and probably using creativity in their matches. Maybe I should study gamers? My adviser was willing to give it a shot, and my subsequent gaming project produced fruitful and interesting scientific results. Now, every study I work on is Smash-based.
“Current top players and their coaches will be interested in the results to see how they can push top performance even further”
ESI: What results do you hope to find and what will the results show you and interested parties?
KN: I’m interested in whether all top players have a similar skill set – high cognitive horsepower, consistent social support, strong and automatic emotion regulation skills, and the old “10,000 hours of practice” skill background. Furthermore, it may be that some of these skills contribute more than others: does strong social support make up for lack of emotion regulation? Do hours of practice make up for lack of reaction time and memory? Or is having at least a little of each the formula to success? That sort of thing.
“I’m hoping the results can help a lot of different people. Current top players and their coaches will be interested in the results”
I’m hoping the results can help a lot of different people. Current top players and their coaches will be interested in the results to see how they can push top performance even further. For aspiring top players, they can take away from my research that such-and-such is a necessary component of success – maybe they’d been writing off the fact that they choke, or they’d been getting by on naturally quick reflexes but haven’t been putting the time in. For cognitive scientists, the results will inform the interconnections of different skills and thought, addressing questions about modularity and the cognitive structure of skill. Members of the gaming industry may find it useful to know how attitudes about skill can motivate (or demotivate) players and lead to long-term investment in a game, and address questions of access and social support. My results also have potential implications for mental health.
ESI: How do you think the results will affect future high-level gaming and do you think it’ll change the way players go into high-intensity matches?
“Members of the gaming industry may find it useful to know how attitudes about skill can motivate (or demotivate) players”
“We also have a unique social setting that straddles the online and offline, which lets us ask questions about identity, gender, and so on across those settings”
ESI: Why did you want to do this research?
KN: I believe that esports is the future, and as a budding field, it’s rich with unique research questions that no one has gotten a chance to answer yet. As our society becomes more gaming-friendly, it’s important for us to understand the factors involved in actually creating a gaming career, as well as the potential effects of that skill acquisition process. We also have a unique social setting that straddles the online and offline, which lets us ask questions about identity, gender, and so on across those settings. Plus, I’ve been a gamer all my life, so this is about the coolest thing I can imagine doing? Literally doing research (I’m a nerd) on gamers, I get to do a lot of innovative and interdisciplinary work by researching a field I’m already fluent in and passionate about, and it really drives and inspires me.